Just to let you know, this bright idea surfaced in November.
Everyone was thinking about what they were thankful for, and I thought it would be cool to carry that throughout the year and keep a record of being thankful for something EVERY DAY.
I dubbed it, “Be Thankful 365: Thankful’s not just for Thanksgiving anymore!” and immediately thought about starting up a whole new blog to document the process.
And then I took a step back to realize:
I wanted to have a hard copy version.
Yes, a notebook, that I could hold and write in and flip back through when I was feeling down.
And since November 20, 2011, I haven’t missed a night.
Some days I just write, and others I write and draw, though mostly it’s both.
Over vacation I barely had time to write but it I did it anyway, and going back to do a few sketches for each page is turning out to be a blast.
I really enjoy taking a few minutes each night to review the day and think,
“What made me smile today? What made me happy today? What made today awesome?”
The answers vary and usually come with an interesting story.
I may go back and document the other weeks, in a kind of flashback mode or something, but I want to start sharing just what I’ve been thankful for in the past week. Seeing them all together in a list can help me see patterns, and I know it will just make me really happy.
Also, I think I’ll randomly pick a few to explain, since, like I said, most of the thankfuls come with great stories.
So, this week, December 29th-January 4th (not today, because the journal gets done before bed, not before blogging!)
Two stories:
MOUNTAIN WAVE TURBULENCE
On my flight back to California, we were flying over the Rockies.
All of a sudden we started rocking (no pun intended!)
The plane was shaking so much that we literally were bopping up and down.
Naturally, everyone was scared.
We settled down a few seconds later, and the captain came on.
“Sorry folks, what we experienced back there was called mountain wave turbulence.”
He went on to explain that riding over mountains can sometimes be like surfing a wave, because the air from the mountains makes it wavy? (clearly I don’t know as much about it as he does.) So basically we were surfing in the air.
“So you just learned something today, and now you can tell all your friends and family that you surfed a mountain wave on your way to California. Thank you for your understanding and look forward to a calm flight from here out.”
I just loved the way the pilot handled it, and, even though it was scary, it was a cool experience.
MENTAL FLEXIBILITY
Note: My job involves doing educational programs for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Each program is one class at a time, for 2.5 hours. Programs are scheduled far in advance, so I go into every day basically knowing the schedule.
I went back to work this week after being off for 5 weeks.
3 weeks for student teaching, and two weeks for our vacation.
The first day back looked easy though. The school was an hour and a half drive from my house, but it was only one program, one fourth grade class.
Until I showed up and they said they were scheduled for two.
Miscommunication happens.
And when it does happen, we presenters (what the people who do my job are called) adjust.
Why?
We COULD just stand there and say, “Well, this is what my schedule says, so too bad. I’m only doing one program. I didn’t even bring lunch because I was supposed to be done and then go eat at home!”
Or we could think, “Hmmm…so I do another program and I’m a little bit hungry, and I am the only one with a schedule that gets thrown off. If I don’t do two programs today, all those fourth graders are going to have to come back to school another day with their costumes on, and their parents are going to have to try to take off work another day, plus rescheduling is really hard…” and then say, “Ok, here’s what we can do.”
Guess what I did?
I was really thankful for my mental flexibility because, in my head, I just quickly changed my outlook from:
One program! YAY!
to
Two programs unexpectedly! OK!
For me, it’s all about expectations.
It ended up being a great day. Both teachers were so grateful that I could do both classes, and I wasn’t really that hungry, and THEN found some surprise food left in my bag from the airplane rides that was trail mix, and, thus, WAS STILL GOOD! (that’s the thankful for the emergency food supply thing…)
Whew.
Thankful, thankful, thankful.
What are you thankful for today?
It may surprise you to think about it!
Read and write on!
KE
